Canadian casualties in Afghanistan totalled 2,013 by December 31, 2010, according to figures released this month by the Department of National Defence in Ottawa.
The total number of deaths —- both those killed in combat and non-combat deaths totalled 154.
Notes on the DND website explain:
“Wounded in Action statistics include injuries of military personnel directly attributable to combat action that required medical/dental intervention. It includes:
* injuries from IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices], mines, rocket attacks, and direct combat with an enemy force or terrorist element;
* personnel injured in friendly fire incidents [i.e. fire from from our own side] related to combat action; and
* acute psychological trauma directly attributable to combat action that required medical intervention.”
The Wounded in Action statistics do not include “traffic accidents, accidental discharges of a weapon, and other accidental injuries not related to combat action.
“Non-Battle Injuries statistics include those injured as a result of traffic accidents, the accidental discharge of a weapon, and any other accidental injuries not related to combat. It also includes those members reported ill, repatriated for compassionate reasons, repatriated for medical reasons, or returned to duty after being assessed by a medical officer.”
DND releases information about military personnel killed in action as those deaths occur, but withholds overall casualty figures until after December 31st each year claiming “operational security concerns.”
For a detailed report on the human cost of the war for Canadians see: “The battle back home: Injured, scarred troops adapt to ‘new normal’ after Afghan war” published last week by the Winnipeg Sun.
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.
It might be nice to think that you actually gave a damn about our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces, or at least, even acknowledged them as fellow citizens and human beings. But, like wikileaks, this is simply snuff porn for Chomskyites. Don’t bogart the aloe, dude.
More canadiens have been killed or wounded in peace keeping since Korea than they have been in combat for the past ten years in Afghanistan. Yet the idiots who say our forces should
Only be used as peace keepers are happier with the deaths and injuries being higher? Just another example of the irresponsible “reporting” done by the media as a whole. This rag included
And those figures are lower than any major battle in WWI & II. I wonder what part of war Mr Wark doesn’t get.
Vimy – 3,598 dead, over 6,000 wounded
Somme – over 24,000 dead or wounded
Passchendaele – over 4,000 dead, over 11,000 wounded
Dieppe – over 1,000 dead, over 2,300 captured, many wounded
D-Day – 359 dead over 1,000 wounded (first day only)
Well you get the picture. If not for IEDs the numbers would be much lower.